Meghalaya CM wins by-election, defeats Congress
Tura (Meghalaya), Aug 27 : Meghalaya Chief Minister and National Peoples Party (NPP) candidate Conrad Sangma on Monday won the by-election from the South Tura Assembly constituency by a huge margin.
But former Speaker Martin Danggo, who resigned from the Congress and joined the NPP, lost to Pius Marweiñ of the United Democratic Party (UDP) in Ranikor constituency.
The by-election in South Tura was necessitated after Agatha Sangma resigned to pave the way for her brother Conrad to contest in order to retain the the post of Chief Minister.
Conrad, the youngest son of the late Purno A. Sangma, defeated Charlotte W. Momin of the Congress by 8,421 votes in a four-cornered contest.
The NPP candidate secured 13,656 votes while Charlotte got 5,235 votes. Conrad, who was sworn as the 12th Chief Minister of Meghalaya on March 6, was a non-elected member to the 60-member assembly.
"I won because people voted for development," Conrad told IANS.
Conrad assumed the top post of Meghalaya, which is father had held for a short period, after the regional United Democratic Party (UDP), People's Democratic Front and Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP) decided to support the NPP in forming the government on condition that a NPP leader would be the Chief Minister.
In Ranikor, Danggo, who had represented Ranikor constituency five consecutive times, lost to novice Pius Marweiñ of UDP by 2,896 votes.
Marweiñ polled 13,183 votes while Danggo bagged 10,287. People's Democratic Front candidate P.N. Syiem and Jackiush A. Sangma of the Congress secured 1,978 and 938 votes respectively.
Both the UDP and PDF are part of the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance coalition government. With this victory, the NPP and UDP have increased their strength to 20 and eight respectively in the 60-member Meghalaya assembly.
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Rupee falls 9 paise to all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): Rupee depreciated 9 paise to an all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
Forex traders said rupee is trading with a negative bias as investors are in wait and watch mode and awaiting cues from the India-US trade deal front.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.53 against the US dollar, then fell further to an all-time intraday low of 90.58 against the greenback, registering a fall of 9 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee had slipped 17 paise to close at an all-time low of 90.49 against the American currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 98.35.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 0.52 per cent at USD 61.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex was trading 298.86 points lower at 84,968.80, while the Nifty was down 121.40 points at 25,925.55.
Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth Rs 1,114.22 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
"FPIs continue to be in selling mode in equity and debt while RBI has been selling dollars to fund their long positions," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
